Delhiwale: Legend of a special pudding

The sweetest thing about this dessert is that it has stayed unchanged over the decades — with no attempts to ‘fix’ it

Opened in 1939 in the Regal Cinema building, Kwality originated as an ice-cream parlour and went on to focus on continental and Indian cuisines. (Mayank Austen Soofi / HT Photo)

The exterior itself is plain white bread — the kind we eat at home. But, dig in, and you find a deliciously creamy interior with chunks of pineapple thrown in.

This grandiosely named Special Pudding is served in the iconic Kwality restaurant in Connaught Place.

Opened in 1939 in the Regal Cinema building, Kwality originated as an ice-cream parlour and went on to focus on continental and Indian cuisines. Many of us go the restaurant for its chhole bhathure. But no matter what you have for the main course, you ought to end the experience with the pudding we are in love with. A longtime patron told us that the standards of this delicious item remain unchanged.

The pudding could certainly improve by being less rich, snigger our health-conscious friends. But we don’t want that at all.

The greatest thing about the Kwality Special Pudding is that it has stayed loyal to its origins and prides itself for its overly sweet flavour not being tempered. If you want to know what it has “meant” to generations of Delhiwale, just ask you Dad or his Dad.

It is also a miracle that the dessert has survived so long in a world where things are changing so fast — the Regal cinema shut down this March and so many old Connaught Place restaurants became history in the preceding years. But this dish has outlasted all the passing fads — even the famous hot chocolate fudge of Nirula’s (nobody talks about it any more).

We respect the pudding as a tradition that has still not been allowed to go obsolete. Everything about it is sacrosanct, including the cherry on the top. The other evening, we were however outraged when the pudding came without the cherry. Here’s hoping the pudding will outlast not only us but also our heirs!